The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro.

  • Munro, Aeneas.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/388 page 16
    47. Light from Buenos Ayres.—The following letter sets this out in detail. Where the Locusts come from We call attention to the following interesting letter, which we find in the columns of one of our Argentine colleagues :— Dear Sir,—In the course of my excursions to the north of the Republic, and particularly in Bolivia, I have often seen clouds of locusts flying sometimes southwards, sometimes northwards, other times east- ward, but very rarely to the west. Where did these locusts come from ? In crossing the Cordillera province and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, I stopped at a place called Gutierrez, and there I was told that every year, from the r2th to the 15 th September or October—I forget which—the first cloud of locusts arrived at that place. As it was winter when I gathered this information, I continued my excursions, but returned to Gutierrez eight days before the date I have mentioned, in order to verify the information. Well, on the 13th the first flight of locusts arrived in a northerly direction; a few days afterwards came a second cloud, then a third, and finally a fourth. These clouds subse- quently moved in a contrary direction, to the Chaco, Paraguay, Jujuy, Salta, and Santa Fe. I then made inquiries as to where these locusts came from, and I received the same reply from settlers as well as Indians—these locusts came from some lakes in the south, on the banks of which they remained (sometimes a yard thick) during the winter. The eggs develop in the springtime, and the young locusts begin to fly more or less about the date I have already mentioned. 48. I wanted to visit these lakes, but, owing to the terrible ravages of smallpox amongst the Chiriguano Indians, 1 had to give up the idea, so that I could not verify the degree of truth in the statement I had heard as to the origin of the locusts. 49. When I was in Zaipuru I had occasion to speak with two persons from Langunillas, who confirmed the story of the lakes. These lakes are a good distance away, the intermediate country being quite unknown and in the hands of the Indians. They are situated in the centre of a valley about 120 miles long, and are called the Laguna Mosquera, because the banks are infested with flies, the Laguna Limon, and the Laguna Langunillas. It is on the banks of this last one that the locusts breed. If in winter the eggs could be destroyed, there would be no locusts. 50. Some people say that the locusts, or a good many of them, come from the Chaco and Paraguay. I have travelled over the Chaco and Paraguay in the Sola Expedition, and I am convinced the locusts do not come from there. I may say the same of Misiones, through which territory I have travelled. 51. If the Foreign Affairs Minister would take the trouble of getting a report on the locusts from the authorities and settlers at Langunillas, he will obtain a confirmation of what I have stated. J. JUNYENT. Calle San Martin, Buenos Ayres, Dec. 20, 1892.
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